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The University of Maryland has teamed with Rexahn Pharmaceuticals to improve the company's drugs that treat cancer and central nervous system disorders.

Researchers from the university's Center for Nanomedicine and Cellular Delivery in Baltimore will work with Rockville-based Rexahn to find new ways of applying nanotechnology research to make more effective drugs. This gives the company a better shot of winning federal approval.

"This sort of partnership is key to our drug development process," says George Steinfels, chief business officer for Rexahn.

The company has a cancer-fighting drug in Phase I clinical trials at Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Center and the University of Alabama. The drug, designed to block the production of a protein that plays a key role in cancer progression, is expected to reach Phase II tests later this year. It is Rexahn's lead product.

Experts say the drug, known as RX-0201, could generate more than $100 million in annual sales.

The partnership with the university calls for a faculty member and a post-graduate student to monitor the company's drug pipeline at Rexahn's headquarters.

By integrating elements of medicine and nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules to manufacture tiny materials, university leaders and Rexahn officials are hopeful that they can create better drugs to fight diseases more accurately and leave healthy tissue unharmed.

Rexahn (OTC: RXHN) received orphan drug designation about a year ago from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for RX-0201 to treat patients with cancer of the brain, kidney, ovaries, pancreas and stomach. An orphan-drug designation gives Rexahn an accelerated review process and seven years of market exclusivity in the United States, should the drug receive FDA approval.

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